Muskeget Island is a low sandy

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

to the

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Tuckernuck Island Tuckernuck is an island in the town and former whaling port of Nantucket, Massachusetts, west of Nantucket Island and east of Muskeget. Its name allegedly means "a loaf of bread". The island has an area of about . The highest point is about . Se ...

and Nantucket, in the town of Nantucket,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States.

Geography

Muskeget Island is part of the

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

marking the maximum extent of the last glacial ice sheet to reach the northeastern coast. It has an area of . The Muskeget Island group contains

Dry Shoal Dry Shoal, an exposed sandbar to the north and east of Muskeget Island in the US state of Massachusetts, is a hazard to navigation. Part of the Muskeget Island group, Dry Shoal, was once larger. Now separated from Muskeget by a stretch of fairly ...

, Skiff Island, Tombolo Point, and Adams Island. Two-thirds of the island is owned by former reporter

Crocker Snow Jr. Crocker Snow Jr. (born 1943) is a former director Edward R. Murrow Center for Public Diplomacy at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is a veteran American journalist. Early life Snow was born in 1943 to aviator Charles Sno ...

, with the rest owned by the town of Nantucket. There are currently two unoccupied shacks on the island, both of which are remnants of old structures, and a small

landing strip According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, o ...

. Muskeget has a high elevation of fourteen feet. Its northern shore is mostly sand dunes, while its southern shore is mainly

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

es. A sandy point protects the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

History

The island was part of

Dukes County Dukes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,600, making it the second-least populous county in Massachusetts. Its county seat is Edgartown. Dukes County comprises the Viney ...

until 1887, when it was annexed by Nantucket County. Shortly after, land on the island was purchased to form the Muskeget Island Club for

waterfowl hunting Waterfowl hunting (also called wildfowling or waterfowl shooting in the UK) is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport. Many types of ducks and geese share the same habitat, have overlapping or identical hunt ...

, and several buildings were constructed. Around 1950, half of the island, along with the 8 buildings standing at that time, were purchased by a partnership led by aviator Crocker Snow Sr. (as erosion has changed the shape of that island, that land currently encompasses 2/3 of the island). Snow, who built the

Muskeget Island Airport Muskeget Island Airport is a small privately-owned turf landing strip located on Muskeget Island in the town of Nantucket. It is barely maintained and mostly overgrown, and although technically reserved for emergency use only, pilots STOL A sh ...

there with his son

, became full owner of the property after the other two partners died. Snow Jr. wrote several books on the island and its ecology, and pushed to have it designated as a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

in April 1980, and in having a conservation restriction placed on the island in 2009.

Ecology

Southern Muskeget island is made up mostly of

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

. Muskeget is the southernmost breeding place of

grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

s, the most common mammal on the island, and Muskeget and Monomoy islands are the primary seal colonies off the New England coast. In 2008, more than 2,000 pups were born on Muskeget. With this large seal population, the waters surrounding Muskeget are an important feeding area for

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocean ...

s. The island is also home to an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

species of rodent known as the Muskeget vole or beach vole, one of two terrestrial mammal species on the island. This vole feeds on beach grass stalks, leaves and seeds, and insect adults and larvae. Their predators include domestic cats (which were extirpated from the island some time in the late 1800s),

short-eared owl The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or ...

s, and

northern harrier The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas ...

s. The IUCN has classified the beach vole as vulnerable. Endangered species of

pirate spider Pirate spiders, members of the family (biology), family Mimetidae, are Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders which typically feed on other spiders. The family (biology), family Mimetidae contains roughly 200 species divided among 12 genus, genera, ...

s, piping plovers, roseate terns and arctic terns can also be found on the island.

Access

Muskeget is inaccessible to most boats because of shoals and

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. ...

s. Kayaking there can be very dangerous because of

rip currents A rip current, often simply called a rip (or misleadingly a '' rip tide''), is a specific kind of water current that can occur near beaches with breaking waves. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water which moves directly away ...

, swells, and

whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

s. Specialized boats designed to navigate the difficult waters around the Island depart from Nantucket Harbor.

, a small privately owned turf landing strip on the island, is accessible to STOL aircraft, but has been designated by the FAA as being for emergency use only.

References

{{authority control Coastal islands of Massachusetts Islands of Nantucket, Massachusetts National Natural Landmarks in Massachusetts